Carronleran Interstellar Fleet Ship Classes
The Carronleran Space Navy operates a range of starship classes ranging from atmospheric sting ships to capital ships. Sting ship These are similar to Old Earth jet fighter aircraft. They are primarily designed to conduct aerial combat with other atmospheric flight craft and are the armed escorts of any military convoy. They are capable of limited space flight, but not far. Known classes: *''Fireblast-''class *''Phoenix-''class Cutter Cutters are light transport craft designed to ferry goods and personnel. They are non-hyper capable as they are equipped with reaction thrusters only. Known classes: *''Swallow-''class cutter Pinnace Pinnaces are larger light craft designed to ferry goods and personnel. They can carry around 100 people and are lightly armed. Although powered by an impeller drive, they are non-hyper capable. Shuttle The shuttle is the largest light craft designed to carry servicemen and goods intrasystem between spacecraft, space stations and planet. Like the pinnace, shuttles are equipped with an impeller drive but are also non-hyper capable. Assault shuttle Assault shuttles are heavily armed attack craft designed to carry Marines for ground attack. All personnel are encased in an armoured battle cell and the ship has multiple point defence, missile, plasma launcher and laser turrets. Assault shuttles are also capable of carrying sufficient ammunition, armour and sustenance supplies. Colony ship Colony ships are life-support focused. They have no offensive weaponry and only have auto-cannon or in later ships, laser point defence clusters. Fusion energy is directed towards maintaining cryogenic life support systems allowing for their occupants to remain in stasis for the process of the journey. With many redundancies and rudimentary automation built into the ship, the need for crew is limited. Known classes: * Horizon-''class * Venturas-class Astrogation survey vessel Astrogation survey vessels are equipped with the latest in gravitic sensor suites and reconnaissance drones designed to survey planetary objects and gravity anomalies such as wormholes. They are constantly updated with the latest astrogation charts and can carry one or two small light craft to carry crew to objects in space for closer inspection. They are usually built from old, decommissioned destroyers or light cruisers. Known classes: *''Voyager-''class Light Attack Craft (LAC) Light Attack Craft are powered by highly powerful fission powerplants, designed to fit into the small environment of an LAC rather than a large fusion plant. This high output system allows for the installation and use of grades of weapons far larger than a ship the size of an LAC would suggest. It also gives them the power to accelerate and manoeuvre at phenomenal speeds, and gives them ample power to engage their stealth defences, their small size making them easy to conceal. Known classes: *''Razor-''class LAC - primary weapon: superdreadnought class gamma ray laser *''Stinger-''class LAC - heavy missile armament, first wave missile defence and attack *''Scythe-''class LAC - extremely manoeuvrable, missile and laser armament, limited life support for increased speed Freighter Freighters are massive, multi-million ton ships with hollow cargo cores designed to carry vast amounts of goods and produce. Due to their gigantic, hollow insides, their interiors can be easily modified to fit different modules required to sustain different goods such as agricultural produce or fuels. They are however, very slow and have very little armour and/or armament, making them tasty targets for pirates. Known classes: *''Panama-''class *''Hino-''class *''Suez-''class Corvette (in reserve) ''Yamato-class prototype. Commissioned as a laser / graser testbed, powered by dual fission powerplants. Low-band hyper capable, early impeller drive. Now a museum ship. Destroyer Formerly rendered obsolete until the development of new-generation inertial compensators along with upgraded impeller nodes, allowing for significantly greater acceleration and sustained speed than before. The latest destroyers are also capable of carrying multi-drive missiles but due to their size, they still have limited telemetry links to control each salvo. Normally relegated to the role of commerce protection and piracy protection, destroyers are now also capable of relinquishing their former role as system scouts and prove a healthy addition to system defence. Despite their new firepower however, they simply do not have the armour to stand in the wall of battle and are relegated to the screening role. Currently, destroyers are the main testbeds for new stealth and reconnaissance drone research, as they are the platforms that deploy them most often and are easiest to conceal due to their size. Known classes: *''Bonneville-''class destroyer *''Maverick-''class destroyer Light cruiser Light cruisers are the standard light units of every navy. While slightly slower than destroyers, they pack more armour and crucially, more armament. Used more often for commerce protection as they have the armour to resist general pirate firepower. Whilst the light cruiser can be used for a reconnaissance role, it is also wholly capable of a system picketing role and system defence. Due to its relative speed, crew size and sufficient armament, they are capable ships at patrolling trade wormholes, scanning ships and searching for smugglers with sufficient boarding crews available. Known classes: Heavy cruiser The heavy cruiser is generally considered the smallest class of ship with enough armour and firepower to stand in the wall of battle, although this has been debated for a time, with some arguing that a battlecruiser should take the honour of such a title. Generally, the heavy cruiser is a very well rounded ship for extended general purpose abilities - it can do everything well. Hence, heavy cruisers are suited for extended-long range patrols as they are small enough to sustain for long periods of time, but not so small that their capabilities are limited and are tough enough to survive most threats in deep space. Known classes: *''Avenger-''class heavy cruiser Battlecruiser The battlecruiser is regarded as the class that begins to demonstrate true force projection capabilities. In fast raiding squadrons, they are the largest class of ship and as such, many of them are outfitted with flagship capabilities due to their larger sensor suites and communication arrays. Their tougher and thicker battle armour allow them to soak up damage caused by low ships of the wall, whilst their high firepower allows them to maintain the pace of the battle. Known classes: *''Trailbreaker-''class battlecruiser Pod battlecruiser The podcruiser is an interesting development - designed as a means of significantly increasing the firepower of a squadron, both in salvo densities, rate of fire and sustained fire. However, they do present their own unique problems. Deploying missile pods take time and must be planned well in advance - in addition, missile pods will slow the ship down once their are not tractored within the ship’s impeller wedge. Also, a single lucky hit on a podcruiser could potentially wreck the pod core, rendering the ship useless aside from a few redundant broadside launchers. Furthermore, battlecruisers may not have the telemetry links available to control all the missile pods it can deploy on its own. As an independent unit, the podcruiser is a capable machine but simply not as versatile as a conventional battlecruiser. Battleship (in reserve) Battleships are currently obsolete warships that have mostly been decommissioned. The larger size of the battleship over the new, evolved battlecruiser did not provide any significant benefits in battle. In addition, the larger dreadnought-class, despite its slight decrease in speed, was simply a more effective warship due to its much thicker armour and armament and was able to take damage and deliver it better than a battleship. Hence the battleship has since been phased out of service. Dreadnought (in reserve) Like battleships, dreadnoughts today are slowly being decommissioned due to their obsolescence. Compared to superdreadnoughts, their negligible increase in speed and their relative lack of survivability make them redundant. Known classes: *''Windsor-''class dreadnought - name derived from the old Earth Royal Family. Superdreadnought Known classes: Podnought Inspired by the missile pod armed merchant freighters, podnoughts have an armoured, hollow core to carry missile pods. A significant of degree and automation over previous generation superdreadnoughts allow for a decrease in crew space in order to accommodate more missile pods. Broadside armament varies, but is usually very small as they are replaced by hatches where missile pods are deployed. In terms of firepower, very little can surpass a podnought’s salvo density or rate of fire once its missile pods are deployed. With superdreadnought computers controlling a vast array of telemetry links to missile pods, a single podnought is capable of launching several thousand missiles in a single salvo. If a system defence doctrine is appropriately deployed, with ship-deployed missile pods along with planetary missile pods, it is entirely capable for at least 250,000 missile pods to defend one system, all of which are capable of firing at least 1 million missiles in a single salvo altogether, if not more. Known classes: *''Relentless-''class - all broadside armament removed, only graser energy mounts and point defence laser clusters remain *''Unconquered-''class - retains small broadside armament in the event missile pod core is damaged LAC Carrier (CLAC) LAC carriers do just that - carry light attack craft through hyper (as LACs are not hyper capable) to the battlefield and allow them to be rearmed and repaired. Superdreadnought sized but like podnoughts, carry significantly less broadside armaments in order to accommodate access hatches for missile pods / LACs. CLACs are weakly armoured due to the space required for both CLAC crew and LAC crew and hence stay out of the wall of battle, usually guarded by a one or two destroyers. They may also take part in the wall of battle’s defensive fire, but shield themselves behind the wedges of the wallers. Known classes: Armed Merchant Cruiser/Freighter The Armed Merchant Cruiser was created due to an increase in piracy along shipping lanes, threatening trade and the livelihoods of the merchants who sailed them. Different variants of AMCs exist, with weaponry depending on their type and the types of piracy they frequented. Some are freighters that have had very heavy weaponry added and are incapable of carrying cargo as all the space has been taken up. Others are conventional freighters with additional armaments and some can carry LACs to increase their offensive and defensive capabilities. The single biggest drawback of AMCs is their slow speed and acceleration due to a lack of military-grade impeller nodes and hyper generators. Furthermore, some AMCs were converted quickly due to rising emergency situations and are very fragile with very little battle armour, if any at all. *''Pandora''-class - fully converted ''Hino-''class freighter with superdreadnought grade weaponry and missile pods. Incapable of carrying cargo. *''Bristle-''class - ''Panama ''class freighter with a compliment of missile launchers and graser broadsides hidden by jettison-able hatches *''Pereh-''class - ''Suez-''class freighter with a compliment of missile launchers, laser broadsides and LAC bays. Category:Alternative Universe Category:Future Tech